An anonymous reader writes: Commodore USA is close to starting production of the new C64s and Amigas it has been designing around modern PC hardware. A new OS nobody has seen yet — Commodore OS 1.0 — is also in the works. COS will, amongst other things, allow "games for the Commodore PET, Vic20, C16, C64, C128 and AMIGA" to be played on the new machines in emulation mode. It also promises "a distinctive, attractive, advanced and stable operating system experience".

Will these machines only interest a few hundred thousand people who grew up with a C64 or Amiga at home and are feeling nostalgic? Or could the new machines become wildly popular, sell millions of units just like in the old days and possibly signify a true "return" or "resurrection" of the long extinct "Commodore Platform"? Could this "old-new" platform possibly then become a popular 4th choice for people who want neither a Windows PC, nor a Mac, nor a Linux box? Could the new Amiga lineup in particular, which features fairly powerful hardware, become a renewed magnet for cool audio, video, 2D/3D graphics, music apps and other creative software like the old Amiga was? Will we walk into game shops and see dedicated "Amiga Games" again?

Reading through the blurb on what this OS will do, you have to wonder, are they really spending millions of dollars writing all this functionality from scratch?Some how I doubt it, considering that the hardware is an Atom processor stuffed into a keyboard form factor, my bet is on a custom linux build brimming with open source software all re badged with shiny commodore buttons.I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but I don't think you could consider it a revolutionary NEW OS for the masses.